On 2 September 2024, the news of a man who had recruited over 50 men to rape his wife broke in France. Dominique Pelicot, 71 years old, alongside 50 men, was charged with the rape of his wife, Gisèle Pelicot.
After 16 weeks of trial, confessions from the culprit, and undeniable proof that the accused drugged and raped his wife repeatedly and recruited other men to do the same, Dominique and all the accused have been found guilty.
Dominique, convicted of orchestrating the sustained assaults over the years, was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while his accomplices were handed sentences ranging from three to 15 years.
Here’s everything we know about the abuse of Gisèle Pelicot
The case centres on 71-year-old Dominique Pelicot, who was charged with counts of drugging and raping his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, and inviting dozens of other men to sexually assault her while she was unconscious. Dominique Pelicot — who confessed to raping his wife repeatedly over a decade — was on trial, along with over 50 other defendants, accused of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault.
Police first discovered Dominique Pelicot’s assaults on his wife in November 2020, after he was initially investigated for taking photos of women’s skirts at a supermarket in southeastern France, where the couple lived.
After he was caught taking the photos, police searched Pelicot’s computer and found a folder titled “Abuses” on a related USB drive. In it, they discovered thousands of pictures and videos of Pelicot and other men raping his wife while she was unconscious. “My world fell apart,” Gisèle Pelicot said after police informed her of their discovery.
During his testimony, Dominique Pelicot said he and all the men involved were guilty. Pelicot told the courtroom he had a difficult upbringing and had himself been a victim of rape, crying at times. He said he had wanted his wife to participate in partner swaps and her refusal, together with trauma from his youth, had helped to trigger his abusive behaviour. “I maintain that I am a rapist, like those in this room,” Dominique Pelicot said. “They all knew her condition before they came; they knew everything. They cannot say otherwise.”
In total, police used roughly 20,000 images her husband took of the assaults to determine that the men had been involved in raping her from 2011 to 2020.
Other charges against Dominique
Dominique was also found guilty of the attempted aggravated rape of a woman named Cillia, the wife of another man, Jean Pierre Marechal, who was one of the co-accused.
Maréchal – described as Dominique’s “disciple,” who drugged and raped his own wife for years and invited Dominque to do the same – was jailed for 12 years.
Dominique was also found guilty of taking indecent images of his daughter, Caroline, and his daughters-in-law, Celine and Aurore, BBC News reported.
Gisele speaks on the case
Speaking in court during the trial, Gisèle Pelicot, said she had thought she had been in a loving marriage with her husband for 50 years.
“We would have a glass of white wine together. I never found anything strange about my potatoes,” Gisele told the court. “He brought my ice cream to my bed, where I was. My favourite flavour — raspberry — and I thought: ‘How lucky I am. He’s a love.'”
She said she never had any inkling that he was drugging her. “I must have gone under very quickly. I would wake up with my pyjamas on,” Gisele told the court, adding that she would sometimes wake up “more tired than usual, but I walk a lot and thought it was that.”
“I’m trying to understand,” she said, “how this husband, who was the perfect man, could have got to this.”
Although she had the option of a private trial, Gisèle Pelicot opted for public proceedings to support and raise awareness for other victims of similar crimes. “I speak for all women who are drugged and don’t know about it, I do it on behalf of all women who will perhaps never know,” Gisèle Pelicot said of her case.
Although unfortunate, Gisèle’s case creates more awareness of the dehumanising nature of gender-based violence, especially with loved ones as perpetrators. Her bravery and courage in the face of such horrible betrayal and heinous crimes will also pave the way for other women to be just as bold about speaking up and returning the shame to their abusers. In Gisèle’s words, “No woman should have to suffer being victimised.”
